Heroes: How to Stop an Exploding Man
by Gus Calvo-Simmons
Summary: At 12:00 AM of January 12th of 2009, Hiro Nakamura "stopped time" he was at the top of Rockefeller Center, facing Theodore "Ted" Sprague himself. The intense pressure he was feeling in his head was too much for him to handle, and he lost control of his powers, one more time before being consumed by the wave, he sent himself again in time trying to prevent a catastrophe that in prev


**Chapter One**

 **The Shadow that Hides Under My Blankets**

It started a 65 million years ago, it came from outer space, it came in a meteorite and eventually assimilated into the life of planet Earth; that would be the first wave, the second came a millennium later, and the third arrived on July 20th of 1969 when the men placed a foot on the moon for the first time.

Young Samuel was 10 at that time of July of 1969, he used to live on the Yokohama Peninsula in Kanto; he lived not far away from the Yokohama University and not far from the Nakamura Dental Clinic. He always had good memories of his childhood, even when he became a professor specialized in evolutionary traits of the new species; he always remembered fondly how he found the changes the bacteria made into the ecosystem of Earth and transformed it into a new world.

Not many people remembered those years fondly, the invasion of the species as well how some governments tried to control them, it became the turning point for life on Earth, the moment where a new set of species rose from the ashes and almost took over the planet, those where the days before the Pocket Monster spread around the globe.

Many theories came around, but later it came clear that the Pocket Monsters came from outside Earth. Samuel was fascinated as new creatures showed in the Kanto region' but, what it took him a few decades to understand it was that it wasn't an evolutionary leap by random, it was the product of a series of meteorite showers over the course of millions of years that let the ecosystem from Earth to "transform" into a new set of living things.

One of those first encounters came with the idea of a boogeyman, he couldn't have understood where exactly he came from, or what he was; but, the boogeyman was hiding under the dirty clothes in his closet. It was a bulge, an amorphous bulge that was making incoherent noises, Samuel at first didn't knew what to do, so as many times he called his mother but the shadow faded before she could arrive back in the room.

Every night, for six months, the same incidents happened sporadically. Until one night, he decided to face his boogeyman and approached the monster inside the closet.

"Do not fear me" He said with his soft childish voice.

Grunts came from inside.

"I am not going to hurt you, I want to be your friend. Are you one the creatures?"

No answer. For a couple of weeks, he continued trying until one night, the monster finally spoke, it spoke barely, trying to mimic the human language and still hiding under the blankets.

"Me and you" Said with gravelly voice.

"You can talk!"

"I… mimic… you…. Human, memories"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Memories are human… I was"

Samuel couldn't understand what the monster was trying to say, he was just fascinated to established contact for the first time. He wanted to know more about the creature and how he can spoke to him. He thought maybe it was as a parrot, he could mimic noises but didn't knew what was saying. He was wrong; it was more than a parrot, the creature understood the concept of communication, and spoke perfect Japanese.

For a ten year old he was fascinated that his boogeyman had a voice, that he could spoke but Samuel couldn't grasp that the monster was human before, it was alive until it was consumed by the bacteria that came from the void of the space, he became a monster, he became a living nightmare who lost his body and caused death.

As many people as the boogeyman who hid under Samuel's closet, they "evolved" they changed, it wasn't only people but the flora and animals also changed, sand, rock, trash, everything changed. It became a world where everything got affected by that bacteria that came within a meteorite eons ago.

"Friend…. No escape… be careful to what will come"

"I don't understand" Said Samuel.

"The world… changed… be safe…"

"Can I see you?"

"No"

"Why?"

"You…die"

"You can't be that terrorizing, you seem nice"

Samuel stood up from his bed and tried to go in the closet, the monster immediately pulled a spectral claw and push him away.

"Please, no… friend, alive" Samuel was confused but opted not to go any further to the monster, he opted to let him rest on his closet every time he visited on the evenings. He was curious to know why his new friend didn't wanted his appearance to be shown? He didn't fear him, but he was concerned that his boogey was feeling alone and need it a friend. He wanted to get close to him but every time the boogeyman was there, he pulled his claw and didn't let him close. He thought about creating him a costume, a small raggedy costume that would let him roam around.

During the daylight Samuel grabbed some of his old blankets and he draw on them a mouse, it was a yellow mouse with a small silly face; he waited until dusk to go and see his friend, he wasn't fearing the boogeyman anymore but he wanted to help him to make more friends. Little what Samuel knew, it was the boogeyman was being hunted by a corporation named the Aether Foundation.

It was becoming a war, mostly it was becoming a research from a company that quickly emerged in the field of biotechnology with the pretensions of finding a cure, a cure that bring desolation and despair to the people who were "transformed" by the bacteria, their mission was simple "to bring love to every being they could preserve" which later would transform into Pokémon.

Samuel's little boogeyman became less scary as time passed; after giving him the raggedy costume he made, it became friendlier to him and he started to use the raggedy costume and walk around Samuel's bedroom freely. The little boogeyman seemed to be sad and happy and he tried to find himself a mirror.

As soon he found it, he realized how much he had changed, there was no human anymore, it was only a shadow of what it was. The line between humanity and a monster was weak and fragile, it was a mirage onto what someone could become in less than a year, his body was no more, he could barely remember who he was… he became a boogeyman.

"A got a name for you. I will call you Mimikyu"

"Mimikyu?"

"You look and act as human but you are cute as the creatures that are emerging; can I ask you, are you one of them?"

"I… no, don't, know… friend"


End file.
